Tokiwagi players including Ayaka Ishimori, right, stretch before the game as the Tokiwagi, Japan U-16 girls soccer team plays Shakopee, Mn. Soccer, on July 17, 2013 at the Schwan's Cup soccer tournament in Blaine. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

Forward Anna Satake takes the ball in and scores on this play as the Tokiwagi, Japan U-16 girls soccer team played Shakopee, Mn. Soccer, on July 17, 2013 at the Schwan's Cup soccer tournament in Blaine. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

Twenty-eight months have passed since Japan was ravaged by a tsunami. Although the natural disaster might have slipped from the American public’s consciousness, there are a couple of reminders in Minnesota this week.

Ayaka Ishimori and Asuka Ono were both near the damage on March 11, 2011, and both are in Blaine this week for the Schwan’s USA Cup youth soccer tournament at the National Sports Center.

More than 1,000 teams are in Blaine, in fact, and they come from all over the world. Tokiwagi Gauken High School of Sendai, Japan, sent two squads this year, with rosters of girls 16 or younger competing at the U16 and U19 levels.

Ishimori is a forward for the U16 team, which had only 10 players for its game against Shakopee on Wednesday afternoon. The Tokiwagi girls didn’t mind the 91-degree heat or the personnel disadvantage, however, as they made a 4-1 victory look easy with an array of accurate passes and dribbling tricks.

Following a rebound, Ishimori tucked a shot inside the right post for the game’s first goal. It was a nice change of pace for her; things haven’t been so easy back home.

On the day of the tsunami, Ishimori was preparing for her school graduation in her tiny hometown. The school grounds there are perched on a hill, so Ishimori and her classmates were not in immediate danger.

The view, however, was terrifying.

Students could look down and see ocean where homes used to be. Ishimori’s family lost its house, and several neighbors died in the floods.

All of her belongings were lost. She wasn’t able to play soccer for more than a month afterward, when several countries donated supplies to the community. Now, she lives in a dormitory near Sendai, while her family has been relegated to government housing.

Things are getting better a little bit at a time, Ishimori said through a translator. But full recovery does not seem to be an option.

“It won’t go back to normal,” she said.

Her saving grace has been soccer. Tokiwagi is an elite program that is routinely the best in Japan. Every year, it sends teams to Blaine for the Schwan’s USA Cup. Three girls on its U19 roster are on the national 16-and-under team.

Japan defeated the United States to win the women’s World Cup in 2011, and its lineup featured three Tokiwagi and USA Cup alums: Aya Sameshima, Asuna Tanaka and penalty-kick hero Saki Kumagai.

“It is the No. 1 soccer program in Japan,” said Seigo Masubuchi, the USA Cup’s tournament agent for Japanese teams. “So girls come from all over the country.”

Ishimori is one of the transplants. Her hometown is about a 1-1/2-hour drive from Sendai — the high school’s location — and she has been able to escape much of the damage and turmoil in her old city. The trip to America is one more way to try to put memories behind her.

Ono was in net for the U19 squad as it defeated North Metro 11-0 on Wednesday evening. The lopsided contest played out like a game of keep-away.

“I didn’t even have to move,” Ono said through an interpreter.

Ono was unable to play soccer for three months after the tsunami washed away her home. She returned to the property to find the mud had destroyed her equipment and taken away her best friend’s mother.

Because of the garbage and debris left behind, Ono estimates it will take 20 to 30 years before things get back to normal in her hometown.

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